NEWS

President assures Ukrainian counterpart of support in their first meeting in Brussels

President Andrzej Duda, after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Polish PermRep to the EU in Brussels on Tuesday, said that he had reiterated Poland's support for Ukraine's EU and NATO aspirations.

The President began his visit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where the Head of Polish State briefed the NATO chief on Poland-US talks concerning a potential strengthening of the US military presence in Poland.

The visit was related to Andrzej Duda's upcoming visit to the US and a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House.

It is expected that decisions on the increase of US military involvement in Poland could be revealed during Duda's visit that starts on June 12.

Andrzej Duda told a press conference at NATO headquarters that he was counting on a "conclusion of talks", which so far had been conducted at a lower level.

The president stressed that Poland wants the potentially raised presence to be part of increasing the security of Central and Eastern Europe, but also to be part of activities under NATO's auspices.

President Duda's visit at NATO was followed by a first bilateral meeting with the recently elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy which took place at the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU.

"I assured the president of Poland's continuous support for Ukraine's European aspirations and I also assured the president of Poland's continuous support for Ukrainian transatlantic aspirations. This issue is extremely important for us; similarly, I assured (Zelensky) of the fact that we continue to support Ukraine's efforts to maintain and, first of all, restore its territorial integrity," Andrzej Duda said at a joint press conference with Zelensky.

Andrzej Duda also said that he and Zelensky had discussed "difficult subjects in our relations, historical problems that exist in relations between our nations."

President Duda stressed that he wanted to promote building bridges between Poles and Ukrainians "in the spirit of truth but, first of all, in the spirit of reconciliation and good cooperation."

President's visit coincided with the 30th anniversary of free election to the Senate of the Republic of Poland, which was marked in the Polish PermRep with a dedicated exhibition "1989. Poland was first". The result of that election, with a landsliding victory of the Solidarity backed candidates, was an important step towards the overthrow of communism.

The President's visit to Brussels concluded with a dinner hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to the UE Mr Gordon Sondland, where several key European leaders and high-level officials from D.C. discussed the U.S. and EU partnership. Amongst those attending were: U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry; Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, EP President Antonio Tajani, HRVP Federica Mogherini, Commissioner Canete, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Andrzej Duda was accompanied by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the EU Ambassador Andrzej Sadoś.